Lawmakers have roughly a week to iron out the details of a massive gaming bill, the state's $30 billion-plus two-year budget and a plan to fund Bankers Life Fieldhouse improvements and pave the way for an Indy Eleven stadium.

They will also try to come to a consensus on firearms and school safety legislation, including a controversial proposal to expand student mental health services.

These are among the biggest measures remaining from a four-month session during which lawmakers passed a disputed hate crimes bill that Gov. Eric Holcomb signed, but bypassed questions involving the future of Attorney General Curtis Hill over accusations of sexual harassment.

Lawmakers hope to finish their work this week, ahead of the legally imposed deadline of April 29, and avoid last year's chaotic end to the legislative session, when lawmakers simply ran out of time.

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The Capital Improvement Board approved a new 25-year agreement on April 12, 2019 with Pacers Sports & Entertainment for improvements to Bankers Life Fieldhouse, which include year-round public outdoor plaza, improved fan experience and enhance views. Pacers Sports & Entertainment

The Capital Improvement Board approved a new 25-year agreement on April 12, 2019 with Pacers Sports & Entertainment for improvements to Bankers Life Fieldhouse, which include year-round public outdoor plaza, improved fan experience and enhance views. Pacers Sports & Entertainment

The upgrades will include a public plaza to host year-round events near the Pennsylvania Street entrance. The area can be available for concerts, ice skating and even basketball games. Pacers Sports & Entertainment

Inside the stadium, there will be more public areas where people can congregate. The top eight rows of seats will be removed on the east and west ends to create horseshoe-shaped gathering places. The team also will add observation decks and enhance the suite areas. Pacers Sports & Entertainment

The Indiana Pacers and the city have agreed to a deal worth $800 million to stay in Indianapolis for the next 25 years. The upgrades to Bankers Life Fieldhouse, which will be fast-tracked over the next three years, will include a public plaza to host year-round events near the Pennsylvania Street entrance. The area can be available for concerts, ice skating and even basketball games. Pacers Sports & Entertainment

The upgrades to Bankers Life Fieldhouse, which will be fast-tracked over the next three years, will include a public plaza to host year-round events near the Pennsylvania Street entrance. Pacers Sports & Entertainment

The Indiana Pacers and the city have agreed to a deal worth $800 million to stay in Indianapolis for the next 25 years. The upgrades to Bankers Life Fieldhouse, which will be fast-tracked over the next three years, will include a public plaza to host year-round events near the Pennsylvania Street entrance. The area can be available for concerts, ice skating and even basketball games. Pacers Sports & Entertainment

Inside the stadium, there will be more public areas where people can congregate. The top eight rows of seats will be removed on the east and west ends to create horseshoe-shaped gathering places. The team also will add observation decks and enhance the suite areas. Pacers Sports & Entertainment

Inside the stadium, there will be more public areas where people can congregate. The top eight rows of seats will be removed on the east and west ends to create horseshoe-shaped gathering places. The team also will add observation decks and enhance the suite areas. Pacers Sports & Entertainment

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Lawmakers try to finalize deal to keep Pacers in Indy

Lawmakers are finalizing a deal to keep the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis for the long haul.

The Marion County Capital Improvement Board, which owns Bankers Life Fieldhouse, and the Pacers on April 12 agreed to a 25-year, $800 million deal. Now lawmakers have to find a way to pay for it.

Senate Bill 7 would raise cash for the CIB from a mix of state and local income, sales, innkeepers, admissions and auto rental taxes collected mostly from within taxing districts located near the fieldhouse.

At this point, the differences between the House and Senate are in the details as lawmakers negotiate the borders of those taxing districts.

The House removed two proposed Hilton hotels from the taxing area, instead relying on taxes linked to existing Downtown hotels. In addition to using taxes generated by the Hilton hotels, the Senate had recommended a much wider taxing area that included commercial development throughout Downtown.

The Pacers and the city propose to add amenities such as a big outdoor plaza, suite upgrades and an indoor fan deck while keeping the Pacers in town through the 2043-44 NBA season, with options to extend it another three years.

The terms include $295 million in public money to upgrade the fieldhouse and $362 million to operate it over the length of the deal, plus $120 million for technology upgrades.

The bill had been linked to a proposed $120 million expansion of the Convention Center, though lawmakers seemingly washed their hands of it by removing the Hilton hotels from the bill.

Indianapolis still proposes to pay for that expansion with property taxes generated from the Hilton hotels. Local hotel owners are trying to stop the Hilton project, because they think there's not enough business for the 1,400 rooms proposed for the two hotels.

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A recusal by House Speaker Brian Bosma from current casino legislation raises new questions about influence peddling in the Statehouse.
Stephen J. Beard/IndyStar, Stephen J. Beard/IndyStar

Gaming

Lawmakers already seem to agree on a few key provisions of a massive gaming bill, Senate Bill 552:

There should be a path for Terre Haute to get a casino.

Spectacle Entertainment, the new owners of two Gary casino licenses, should be able to move one inland to a more lucrative, well-traveled part of town, making way for an intermodal port in Buffington Harbor.

Sports wagering should be legalized to some extent in Indiana.

But that's where the similarities appear to end between the versions that passed out of the House and the Senate.

Should Spectacle have to pay a $50 million fee to move one of its Gary casino licenses? Should a Terre Haute casino be dependent on whether Spectacle moves one casino license inland, thus giving up the other license? Should other casino communities be compensated for a potential loss in revenue? And should sports wagering be permitted only at casinos?

Making matters more complicated for the massive gaming bill, Spectacle Entertainment has been at the center of a couple of controversies. The company flew Gov. Eric Holcomb on a private jet to a pair of Republican Governors Association meetings last year in Arizona and Colorado, giving the casino owners exclusive access to Holcomb.

And House Speaker Brian Bosma recused himself from voting on the casino bill, because his law firm is providing legal representation to the Vigo County Capital Improvement Board — a local entity that stands to benefit from the legislation, which would allow a casino in Terre Haute.

The contract was arranged by Terre Haute businessman Greg Gibson, one of two principal investors in Spectacle Entertainment.

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Gov.-elect Eric Holcomb announces his legislative agenda, including his budget priorities for the first regular session of the 120th Indiana General Assembly, at the Indiana Statehouse, on Jan. 5. Lt. Gov.-elect Suzanne Crouch listens at right.(Photo: Jenna Watson/IndyStar)

A leaner state budget brings tough decisions

Lawmakers will have less cash than they expected as they negotiate the final version of the state's two-year budget.

During a state revenue forecast Wednesday, they learned they will have roughly $100 million less to spend due to tax shortfalls and an estimated increase in Medicaid spending.

House Speaker Brian Bosma indicated at a news conference Thursday the outlook is even gloomier, adding in another $40 million or so for Medicaid.

The two lead budget writers, Rep. Todd Huston, R-Fishers, and Sen. Ryan Mishler, R-Bremen, both have said that providing a boost to education funding is their caucus's top priority.

They've held their cards close, declining to say whether they would increase or decrease education funding, or any other program, within the budget.

Bosma said on Thursday that lawmakers were "looking for every dollar" and the best way to get more of those dollars to teachers. Teacher pay has been one of the biggest issues at the Statehouse this year, and it remains unsolved in the eyes of many teachers.

The last version of the budget, passed Tuesday by the Senate, proposed spending $34.6 billion over two years.

The spending plan largely follows what Holcomb called for in his original proposal, which would give the Department of Child Services an additional $286 million, bringing the agency's budget in line with actual spending. Meanwhile, K-12 schools would see a modest increase in funding and the $3 million annual subsidy for Amtrak's Hoosier State Rail Line that runs from Indianapolis to Chicago would be cut.

The Senate is proposing to spend $14.9 billion on schools over the next two years, with budget increases of 2.7 percent in 2020 and 2.2 percent in 2021 — the highest K-12 spending proposal of the differing versions of the budget presented at the Statehouse so far this year.

The Senate made changes. Senators don't think Child Services will need $286 million in additional funding, but they set up a plan to allow the agency to dip into a reserve fund utilizing the sales tax on gasoline to reach that figure if necessary. That's likely to be a sticking point in final negotiations.

School safety measures stalled

Several proposals related to school safety continue to be caught up in debate between the House and Senate.

A wide-ranging school safety bill that involves expanded student mental health services passed through the House easily but saw substantial changes in the Senate, which included new language to allow parents to sue schools when those services are provided against parental wishes. The sponsor of that legislation said last week she intends to take the bill back to its original form, which looks to be complicating matters.

Bosma said Thursday that negotiations were still taking place over that measure, House Bill 1004, one of several priority bills established by his caucus in January. There are several sticking points, but the largest seems to be how to balance parental rights with bolstering mental health supports for students. Increasing mental health services was a recommendation that came from a task force Holcomb convened after school shootings last year in Parkland, Florida, and at a Noblesville middle school.

Some conservative lobbyists, though, have raised concerns about schools addressing mental health issues without enough involvement from parents. After they took those concerns to the Senate, language was added that would allow parents to sue schools that deliver mental health services or provide information on several other topics without or against parental consent.

Time is running low for lawmakers to iron out these differences, but Bosma said his caucus would rather remove provisions holding up the bill than let it die entirely.

Consensus has also yet to be reached on a bill that sets firearm training requirements for armed teachers.

For years, Indiana has allowed local school boards to decide if they want to allow teachers to be armed or have access to a gun on campus. There are currently no state-mandated training requirements, though. House Bill 1253 would set those, but the bill's author says changes made in the Senate go too far.

Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, will have just a few days to work out the differences. The bill will go to conference committee Monday afternoon.

This is also the bill that prohibits the use of projectiles in training exercises with teachers, unless they give written consent for the devices to be used. The state's largest teachers union asked for a ban on projectiles after a January incident injured several teachers at a Monticello elementary school.

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Renderings of the 20,000-seat Indy Eleven stadium proposed Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019. The club played its 2018 season at Lucas Oil Stadium, and it has played past seasons at a stadium owned by IUPUI. Indy Eleven

Renderings of the 20,000-seat Indy Eleven stadium proposed Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019. The club played its 2018 season at Lucas Oil Stadium, and it has played past seasons at a stadium owned by IUPUI. Indy Eleven

Renderings of the 20,000-seat Indy Eleven stadium proposed Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019. The club played its 2018 season at Lucas Oil Stadium, and it has played past seasons at a stadium owned by IUPUI. Indy Eleven

Renderings of the 20,000-seat Indy Eleven stadium proposed Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019. The club played its 2018 season at Lucas Oil Stadium, and it has played past seasons at a stadium owned by IUPUI. Indy Eleven

Renderings of the 20,000-seat Indy Eleven stadium proposed Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019. The club played its 2018 season at Lucas Oil Stadium, and it has played past seasons at a stadium owned by IUPUI. Indy Eleven

From a past failed proposal, renderings show a 18,500-seat Indy Eleven stadium released on Jan. 28, 2015. The proposed $82 million stadium deal passed the Indiana House but not the Senate in 2015. Provided by Indy Eleven

From a past failed proposal, renderings show a 18,500-seat Indy Eleven stadium released on Jan. 28, 2015. The proposed $82 million stadium deal passed the Indiana House but not the Senate in 2015. Provided by Indy Eleven

From a past failed proposal, renderings show a 18,500-seat Indy Eleven stadium released on Jan. 28, 2015. The proposed $82 million stadium deal passed the Indiana House but not the Senate in 2015. Star archive

From a past failed proposal, renderings show a 18,500-seat Indy Eleven stadium released on Jan. 28, 2015. The proposed $82 million stadium deal passed the Indiana House but not the Senate in 2015. Provided by Indy Eleven

From a past failed proposal, renderings show a 18,500-seat Indy Eleven stadium released on Jan. 28, 2015. The proposed $82 million stadium deal passed the Indiana House but not the Senate in 2015. Provided by Indy Eleven

From a past failed proposal, renderings show a 18,500-seat Indy Eleven stadium released on Jan. 28, 2015. The proposed $82 million stadium deal passed the Indiana House but not the Senate in 2015. Provided by Indy Eleven

Indy Eleven stadium's chances look better

The House removed a stipulation that the Indy Eleven must sign a Major League Soccer franchise by 2022 before beginning construction of the stadium. At this point, the current version of the team could play in the stadium.

Now, soccer advocates are waiting to see whether the Senate insists that stipulation be added back in. Given the high cost of a franchise and MLS expansion plans, it's essentially a poison pill for the deal.

In December 2017, MLS announced it would expand from 24 to 28 teams. Three of those slots have been filled, and one remains open. Though future expansions are possible, MLS commissioner Don Garber recently discussed such plans that at this point don't include Indianapolis.

Indy Eleven owner Ersal Ozdemir, who runs the development company Keystone Group, has proposed a $550 million development called Eleven Park, which would include $400 million in private investment in restaurants, shops, offices and apartments at a to-be-decided location, as well as the $150 million stadium and other public investments.

Under the legislation, taxes collected from that development would pay back 80 percent of the cost of the stadium. The Indy Eleven would have to pay 20 percent, either up front or annually, and cover any shortfalls.

The same bill, Senate Bill 7, also includes the funding for the Indiana Pacers.